Here is Why Tipping Point is Vital to Transition!
Dr. Z explains the tipping point that happens mid-transition—what it is, when it occurs, and why it's so essential to your transitionary path.
Tipping point is a point of reaching that height when things suddenly start going downhill. When you start transitioning (beginning hormones, coming out, expressing yourself more in your gender), you start climbing—it feels like you're climbing a wall, a hurdle. The hurdle becomes especially difficult when you reach plateaus (on hormones experiencing some mild changes, then suddenly everything came to a stop—no changes happening). That plateau can feel like you're really climbing this climb. You start wondering if you're doing the right thing, if you'll ever get changes you want. That's usually the most difficult point.
Imagine a bell curve—you haven't climbed all the way to the top yet, you're just about to hit the top of the mountain. That's the point when you feel really emotionally and physically exhausted. Part of you wants to give up, part of you starts wondering again (fears come up: "am I doing the right thing, is this really for me").
What's really important: Continue to stay at this point and not give up because the next point is the tipping point. Tipping point is when you're at the top of the mountain and suddenly things go downhill. The reason why things go downhill is NOT necessarily because things start to get much easier or you suddenly start seeing a lot of changes on hormones or in other aspects of life—the reason it feels like it's going downhill and things are suddenly changing is because the tipping point is essential to your internal self. The tipping point: part of you, part of your paradigm, part of your inner self shifts.
Watch to find out what Dr. Z means (the tipping point is when you suddenly are seeing yourself—not only the person inside you've been imagining/conjuring up all your life, but you're suddenly seeing not only full potential but feeling the realities: "I can make this, this is going to happen, I can completely transition, this is going to totally work for me"), why prior to tipping point you haven't seen yourself yet (even though you started hormones and they make you feel better and alleviate dysphoria, or started social transition changing how you express yourself, or coming out using preferred pronouns—it's still very hard to reach that internal integration where you suddenly really see yourself, you envision yourself but psychologically you haven't made that merger between imagining yourself and finally seeing yourself in the mirror), when tipping point usually happens (5-6 months into transition—Dr. Z sees this consistently in lots of clients across different age ranges), and why after tipping point things become progressively much easier (gives you hope, infuses you with possibility, you're much more capable/confident in handling difficult things because you finally see yourself).
